Jaxon is the guy she’s supposed to avoid.
K.C. is the girl he won’t let get away....
K. C. Carter has always followed the rules—until this year, when a mistake leaves her the talk of her college campus and her carefully arranged life comes crashing to a halt. Now she’s stuck in her small hometown for the summer to complete her court-ordered community service, and to make matters worse, trouble is living right next door.
Jaxon Trent is the worst kind of temptation and exactly what K.C. was supposed to stay away from in high school. But he never forgot her. She was the one girl who wouldn’t give him the time of day and the only one to ever say no. Fate has brought K.C. back into his life—except what he thought was a great twist of luck turns out to be too close for comfort. As the bond between them grows, he discovers that convincing K.C. to get out from her mother’s shadow is hard, but revealing the darkest parts of his soul is nearly impossible.…

Falling away is the third book in the Fall Away series and tells the story of K.C., Tate’s bff and Jax, Jared’s younger brother.

After being away for two years, K.C. returns to Shelburn falls to find herself lost, with no real direction and clueless as ever. Having grown up and no longer able to tolerate her mother, she has no other choice bit to move into Tate’s house with Jax living next door.

Jax has always been into K.C. but she knew better than get involved with someone like Jax, a player. Now, living next to each other, they have no other choice but to tolerate each other. Jax though, isn’t as patient as he wants others to believe. K.C. bring out his worst self and he can’t not challenge her too. He wants her to find herself but she cannot do that when Jax is holding back.

She wants to unravel all of his secrets. He wants to meet the woman behind the mask.

I have to admit that I was a bit hesitant about this book. I wasn’t a big fan of K.C’s mainly because of her choices in the past. I actually liked Jax (a lot) especially in Rival but as I began reading this book, I realized that he wasn’t the man I thought him to be. He was such a jerk in the beginning of the book, arrogant to no end and his mood changed so fast. He changed from hot and cold from chapter to chapter. Despite their early behavior though, the chemistry between them was off the charts, their romance, sizzling and the sexual tension was scorching hot.

What surprised me more than anything was K.C.’s past. She wasn’t at all the person I had imagined she would be. Her past was so sad. I felt very sorry for her. I’m glad that Jax challenged her the way he did because if he hadn’t, she wouldn’t have found her true self.

Moreover, we got to see some old characters as well. Tate and Jared and Madoc and Fallon. I loved seeing how Madoc and Fallon’s relationship had developed but I was disappointed by Jared and Tate. I once thought they were soul mates but I think they have much yet to learn from each other. I hope they find their HEA but I don’t see that happening any time soon. There are so many secrets between them.

Falling away was an incredible book. K.C. and Jax found their HEA but they had to go through many difficulties to get there. In reality many people would have given up at the first difficulty, which is what happens in most of the cases, but these two people fought to create the bond between them.

I’m looking forward to reading Aflame (the last part of Tate and Jared’s story), the next and probably the last book in the fall away series.

Highly recommended!

*Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Excerpt

Falling Away - Chapter 9 Excerpt

“Jax, I can’t,” she breathed, placing her hands on my chest. “I . . . ,” she stammered, “I don’t exactly dislike you anymore, but this isn’t a good idea. As much as I’d like to give in, I can’t be that girl.”

“What girl?”

She stared at me. “A one-night stand.”

My fists tightened around her shirt. So that was what she thought I wanted?

My voice hardened. “What makes you think you’d be a one-night stand?”

“Because you’re Jared Trent’s brother. Because you’re young. Why would you want more?” she asked, her tone light. “I’m not trying to be prissy, okay? You get to me. I like the way you feel. I’m just not ready for this.” Her lips pursed, and she started to rise, but I pulled her back down.

“Ready for what?” I bit out, getting seriously fucking annoyed at her assumptions and the fact that she compared me to Jared. Two minutes ago she’d had her arms and legs wrapped around me.

Her eyebrows shot up, challenging me. “This,” she spat out, and dug into my pocket, pulling out my knife. “It’s been digging into the back of my thigh since I sat down. Why do you have so many computers? Why do the cops let you get away with anything? What do you do to make a living? And why do you carry a knife, Jax?”

My chest filled with delight at her anger. She was getting ballsier by the minute.

I shot her a smirk. “Because it’s quiet.”

And I almost laughed at her arched eyebrow. She was asking why I carried a knife, and I just answered why I carried a knife instead of a gun.

She averted her eyes, but I caught the annoyed expression as she raised the knife up to her face, studying it. She hit the button, and the blade shot out right between us.

I had only a moment to wonder what the hell she was doing before I reared back, seeing her jab the knife into my space.

“You think you scare me, don’t you?” she taunted, holding the blade to my neck, playing with me.

I sucked in a few quick breaths and let out a startled laugh as my heart slammed against my ribs. Well, this was new.

I swallowed, meeting her triumphant little smile and leaning into the blade, feeling the sharp, cool steel bite into my neck. “You want to play? You don’t know how to play my games, Juliet.”

And I snatched the knife out of her scarred hand and brought it down to the hem of her shirt, slicing it up the middle.

“Jax!” she screamed, fumbling with her now useless T-shirt as I threw the blade onto the floor. “What are you doing?”

Grabbing her around the waist, I stood up, whipped her around, and planted her in front of the window looking down onto the backyard full of partiers.

I wrapped my arms around her shaking body and growled into her ear from behind her, “God, Juliet. You think I just wanna fuck? You think I wanna keep myself hidden and mysterious, because it’s my play to get women into bed? Huh?” I pressed. “No, baby. I could fuck ten different girls tonight if I wanted to. I don’t want to do that.”

Her chest shook, and she squirmed against me, probably scared that we could be seen out the window.

“So, what do you want?” she cried. “If not a one-night stand?”

I closed my burning eyes, and buried my lips in her hair. “I want to terrorize you,” I confessed. “I want to cut you without drawing blood. I want to break you.” I pulled her into me. “And then I want to fuck you.”

From the moment I laid eyes on her I had wanted to break her out of her shell. I wanted to see her undone, and I wanted to take her over. For how long, I didn’t know, but I knew it would be for more than one night.

I also knew it wouldn’t be forever.

Her breathing slowed, and she stilled, staring out the window. I straightened behind her and peeled off the T-shirt she was holding closed.

“Jax,” she whimpered, turning her face to me. “They can see us.”

Reaching around, I turned her chin back toward the window. “They can’t see you. The window’s tinted.” The shirt, sliced up the front, fell down her arms and spilled to the floor. “But you can see them, Juliet,” I pointed out, gently running my hands up her bare arms. “They drink, they laugh, they have meaningless conversations about what’s trending on Twitter.” I paused and dug my fingers into her hips, pulling her ass into me and breathing into her ear, “And I’m so jacked up I want you so bad.”

Giveaway

Penelope is offering up the following prizes. The giveaways are international and ends at 11:59 PM CST 01/27/2015.

· (2) Swag Pack with a signed set of the Fall Away series + other swags (Intl)

Penelope Douglas is a writer in Las Vegas. Born in Dubuque, Iowa, she is the oldest of five children. Penelope attended the University of Northern Iowa, earning a Bachelor's degree in Public Administration, because her father told her to "just get the degree!" She then earned a Masters of Science in Education at Loyola University in New Orleans, because she hated Public Administration. One night, she got tipsy and told the bouncer at the bar where she worked that his son was hot, and three years later they were married. To the son, not the bouncer. They have spawn, but just one. A daughter named Aydan. Penelope loves sweets, The Originals, and she shops at Target almost daily.

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